Hello everyone!
This is the story of my first car - the first BMW 3 series, the '80 e21. It is packing a 1.6 liter engine that used to produce 90 hp. Right now a lot of these horses have been shot, crippled or eaten.
The reason and the story of the purchasing the car is based on the moto : ''why the hell not''. It was 17th of August and I have not yet been on vacation or at the seaside that year. A friend of mine sent me the link to a beat up white BMW and honestly I'm not even a fan of a BMW, my dream has always been and still is to own a Opel Manta or Opel Rekord D Coup?. So, under influence of wanting to visit sea I decited to go see the car that was by the sea and have a great day and go on a road trip with the boys.
We meet and start driving - of course it started to rain...and rained all day. We go see the car, the car was dirty, smelled like cigarettes inside, the seats were torn, it made funny noises and the body was in bad shape, but I would not let a day go to waste, so I throw a random number of money, substantially lower than asked price - just because. The guy agreed - sh*t. Kinda shocked but oh well, looks like I bought my first car. With mixed feeling we proceeded driving to the beach with friends, experiencing my first RWD skids because of wet roads and poor tires. Driving home on the highway the car managed to drive about 250km far with zero problems but infinite fuel cunsumption then driving 130km/h or more.
(After purchasing)
(Automn drive)
Later on I serviced the brakes and make the car good enough to pass the MOT. But that simply won't do, will it?
I decited to make this my first project car and make something out of it, to restore it and make a fun car but not break the bank, since I'm still a student.
The bimmer got different seats up front - Recaros (taken out of an old Opel) and after some MacGyver stuff I made it fit. The 13 inch steel wheels had to go since I bent one when after a skid I went into the curb and the tires needed to be upgraded. I changed the wheels to 15'' OZ Alpina King and fitted new Michelin PilotSport 3 (195/15/15) and boy, the grip is great, first time I had new tires on a car. The 15'' wheels were straightened and edges restored. Since the grandpas old suspension was boat-like soft I decited to fit newer, sportier suspension - Bilstein B8 Sport with H&R -35mm springs. Now we're talking! The engine recieved a complete service (plugs, alternator, coil, thermostate, filters, fluids, ..).
(after cleaning)
(wheels sorted)
The car ran good but the carburator liked to cause problems but still I managed to get some roadtrips done this year and have some fun.
But still, it was still not good enough, not for me. The body was hit in front, at back (2cm of filler) and on the side (drivers door) and the rust... oh the rust! So i took the car apart and sorted the rust and have it resprayed, the restoration process is the story for another time. The goal was - do the best I can with the body for as little money as i can. Now I know, this sounds bad, but i did not cut expenses where it mattered. The body was fixed by me and with the help of my father and the preparation for the respray was also done by me under instructions from my friend that later resprayed it after. I'll let the results speak and you guys will tell me if I've done well but have in mind that this was my first project.
(visiting Austria)
(after first cleaning of the restored body)
(After new MOT)
The car has been completed but there is still much work to be done - engine and transmission upgrade, seats need to be re-upholstered, pop-out windows would have been nice, steering rack and steering wheel changed, LSD (humble wish),...
Few photos of the last drive in the season:
I hope you've enjoyed reading and that we will have a great discussion. Thanks for reading, drive safe!
Proof pic:
This is the story of my first car - the first BMW 3 series, the '80 e21. It is packing a 1.6 liter engine that used to produce 90 hp. Right now a lot of these horses have been shot, crippled or eaten.
The reason and the story of the purchasing the car is based on the moto : ''why the hell not''. It was 17th of August and I have not yet been on vacation or at the seaside that year. A friend of mine sent me the link to a beat up white BMW and honestly I'm not even a fan of a BMW, my dream has always been and still is to own a Opel Manta or Opel Rekord D Coup?. So, under influence of wanting to visit sea I decited to go see the car that was by the sea and have a great day and go on a road trip with the boys.
We meet and start driving - of course it started to rain...and rained all day. We go see the car, the car was dirty, smelled like cigarettes inside, the seats were torn, it made funny noises and the body was in bad shape, but I would not let a day go to waste, so I throw a random number of money, substantially lower than asked price - just because. The guy agreed - sh*t. Kinda shocked but oh well, looks like I bought my first car. With mixed feeling we proceeded driving to the beach with friends, experiencing my first RWD skids because of wet roads and poor tires. Driving home on the highway the car managed to drive about 250km far with zero problems but infinite fuel cunsumption then driving 130km/h or more.
(After purchasing)
(Automn drive)
Later on I serviced the brakes and make the car good enough to pass the MOT. But that simply won't do, will it?
I decited to make this my first project car and make something out of it, to restore it and make a fun car but not break the bank, since I'm still a student.
The bimmer got different seats up front - Recaros (taken out of an old Opel) and after some MacGyver stuff I made it fit. The 13 inch steel wheels had to go since I bent one when after a skid I went into the curb and the tires needed to be upgraded. I changed the wheels to 15'' OZ Alpina King and fitted new Michelin PilotSport 3 (195/15/15) and boy, the grip is great, first time I had new tires on a car. The 15'' wheels were straightened and edges restored. Since the grandpas old suspension was boat-like soft I decited to fit newer, sportier suspension - Bilstein B8 Sport with H&R -35mm springs. Now we're talking! The engine recieved a complete service (plugs, alternator, coil, thermostate, filters, fluids, ..).
(after cleaning)
(wheels sorted)
The car ran good but the carburator liked to cause problems but still I managed to get some roadtrips done this year and have some fun.
But still, it was still not good enough, not for me. The body was hit in front, at back (2cm of filler) and on the side (drivers door) and the rust... oh the rust! So i took the car apart and sorted the rust and have it resprayed, the restoration process is the story for another time. The goal was - do the best I can with the body for as little money as i can. Now I know, this sounds bad, but i did not cut expenses where it mattered. The body was fixed by me and with the help of my father and the preparation for the respray was also done by me under instructions from my friend that later resprayed it after. I'll let the results speak and you guys will tell me if I've done well but have in mind that this was my first project.
(visiting Austria)
(after first cleaning of the restored body)
(After new MOT)
The car has been completed but there is still much work to be done - engine and transmission upgrade, seats need to be re-upholstered, pop-out windows would have been nice, steering rack and steering wheel changed, LSD (humble wish),...
Few photos of the last drive in the season:
I hope you've enjoyed reading and that we will have a great discussion. Thanks for reading, drive safe!
Proof pic: